Artistic creations
The heyday of doll manufacture was famously the period between 1870 and 1920. A whole industry for dolls and other toys thrived in the Thuringian Forest during this time. The factories there led the world in production: while in the beginning the dolls’ heads were still made of wood, wax or papier mâché, later they were fashioned out of porcelain or its more sophisticated variant, biscuit porcelain.

The copious collection shows artistic creations from the period between ca. 1830-1850 and ca. 1950-1960 by practically all notable manufacturers: for instance, visitors can delight in dolls by the first major German manufacturers J.D. Kestner, Simon & Halbig, and Armand Marseille, furthermore the artist-designed character dolls by Kämmer & Reinhardt and the Heubach Brothers. Evidence that doll manufacture was thriving in France at that time is demonstrated in rarities from the Emile Jumeau and Casimir Bru Jeune companies. In addition, several exhibits from Japan provide an inside view of the rich world of dolls in the land of the rising sun.